News & field notes

New papers, field days, and video from the catchments

Each new paper gets a short story here, with photos or a short video from the field and a link to the paper itself.

A short note when something new comes out. A few times a year.

Urban nitrogen policy should follow pathways, not the calendar

Seasonal fertilizer blackouts are an imperfect proxy for nitrogen export. This ES&T Viewpoint argues that policy should target sources, forms, storage pools, and hydrologic pathways.

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A storm reaches the flume

A trail camera at the outlet of one of our small agricultural catchments catches runoff starting to pour through the flume as a storm arrives.

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8-second clip

Nitrogen loss from agricultural land to water

Our new comprehensive review of how nitrogen moves from farmland to water: the pathways, the drivers, and what they mean for management. Advances in Agronomy 198.

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Climate-smart kiwifruit: cutting nitrate by using water and nitrogen better

With colleagues in China, a study of how nitrogen and water use efficiency can reduce nitrate across climate scenarios. Water Research 290.

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Extreme rainfall pushes stored nitrate deeper into the soil

Extreme rainfall redistributes and leaches nitrate accumulated in soil profiles of an intensive agricultural region. Soil & Tillage Research 259.

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Day and night at a drainage ditch

A trail camera's view of a farm drainage ditch on the Eastern Shore, through day and night.

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17-second clip

Irrigation over soybeans

A center pivot waters a soybean field in midsummer. Irrigation adds water that can carry nitrate below the root zone, one reason we track water as closely as nutrients.

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20-second clip

Biosolids to curb soluble phosphorus loss from legacy-P soils

Characterizing biosolids and how their phosphorus transforms in soils already saturated with legacy phosphorus. Environmental Technology & Innovation 41.

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Talk at STING 2026 in Bern

Mechanistic insights into nitrate dynamics in agricultural catchments using stable isotope analyses, with Fajun Sun and Shuiwang Duan.

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Bern, Switzerland

10 years later, Maryland’s phosphorus tool offers uneven results

Bay Journal coverage of Maryland’s Phosphorus Management Tool. Bay Journal 35(9): 20.

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Study aims for reality check on nutrient runoff from farms

Bay Journal story on a study of nutrient runoff from farms. Bay Journal 35(6): 14–15.

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Bay Journal, print edition

Elected Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy

Two years after election as a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America.